Algebra Examples

$\frac{4}{2 x^{4} b} \cdot \frac{6}{8 x b^{3}}$

Step 1

Cancel the common factor of $4$ and $2$ .

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Step 1.1

Factor $2$ out of $4$ .

$\frac{2 \cdot 2}{2 x^{4} b} \cdot \frac{6}{8 x b^{3}}$

Step 1.2

Cancel the common factors.

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Step 1.2.1

Factor $2$ out of $2 x^{4} b$ .

$\frac{2 \cdot 2}{2 (x^{4} b)} \cdot \frac{6}{8 x b^{3}}$

Step 1.2.2

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2 \cdot 2}{2 (x^{4} b)} \cdot \frac{6}{8 x b^{3}}$

Step 1.2.3

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{2}{x^{4} b} \cdot \frac{6}{8 x b^{3}}$

Step 2

Cancel the common factor of $6$ and $8$ .

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Step 2.1

Factor $2$ out of $6$ .

$\frac{2}{x^{4} b} \cdot \frac{2 (3)}{8 x b^{3}}$

Step 2.2

Cancel the common factors.

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Step 2.2.1

Factor $2$ out of $8 x b^{3}$ .

$\frac{2}{x^{4} b} \cdot \frac{2 (3)}{2 (4 x b^{3})}$

Step 2.2.2

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2}{x^{4} b} \cdot \frac{2 \cdot 3}{2 (4 x b^{3})}$

Step 2.2.3

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{2}{x^{4} b} \cdot \frac{3}{4 x b^{3}}$

Step 3

Finding the LCD of a list of values is the same as finding the LCM of the denominators of those values.

$x^{4} b, 4 x b^{3}$

Step 4

Since $x^{4} b, 4 x b^{3}$ contains both numbers and variables, there are two steps to find the LCM. Find LCM for the numeric part $1, 4$ then find LCM for the variable part $x^{4}, b^{1}, x^{1}, b^{3}$ .

Step 5

The LCM is the smallest positive number that all of the numbers divide into evenly.

1. List the prime factors of each number.

2. Multiply each factor the greatest number of times it occurs in either number.

Step 6

The number $1$ is not a prime number because it only has one positive factor, which is itself.

Not prime

Step 7

$4$ has factors of $2$ and $2$ .

$2 \cdot 2$

Step 8

Multiply $2$ by $2$ .

$4$

Step 9

The factors for $x^{4}$ are $x \cdot x \cdot x \cdot x$ , which is $x$ multiplied by each other $4$ times.

$x^{4} = x \cdot x \cdot x \cdot x$

$x$ occurs $4$ times.

Step 10

The factor for $b^{1}$ is $b$ itself.

$b^{1} = b$

$b$ occurs $1$ time.

Step 11

The factor for $x^{1}$ is $x$ itself.

$x^{1} = x$

$x$ occurs $1$ time.

Step 12

The factors for $b^{3}$ are $b \cdot b \cdot b$ , which is $b$ multiplied by each other $3$ times.

$b^{3} = b \cdot b \cdot b$

$b$ occurs $3$ times.

Step 13

The LCM of $x^{4}, b^{1}, x^{1}, b^{3}$ is the result of multiplying all prime factors the greatest number of times they occur in either term.

$x \cdot x \cdot x \cdot x \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14

Simplify $x \cdot x \cdot x \cdot x \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$ .

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Step 14.1

Multiply $x$ by $x$ .

$x^{2} \cdot x \cdot x \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14.2

Multiply $x^{2}$ by $x$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 14.2.1

Multiply $x^{2}$ by $x$ .

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Step 14.2.1.1

Raise $x$ to the power of $1$ .

$x^{2} \cdot x^{1} \cdot x \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14.2.1.2

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$x^{2 + 1} \cdot x \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14.2.2

Add $2$ and $1$ .

$x^{3} \cdot x \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14.3

Multiply $x^{3}$ by $x$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 14.3.1

Multiply $x^{3}$ by $x$ .

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Step 14.3.1.1

Raise $x$ to the power of $1$ .

$x^{3} \cdot x^{1} \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14.3.1.2

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$x^{3 + 1} \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14.3.2

Add $3$ and $1$ .

$x^{4} \cdot b \cdot b \cdot b$

Step 14.4

Multiply $b$ by $b$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 14.4.1

Move $b$ .

$x^{4} \cdot (b \cdot b) \cdot b$

Step 14.4.2

Multiply $b$ by $b$ .

$x^{4} \cdot b^{2} \cdot b$

Step 14.5

Multiply $b^{2}$ by $b$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 14.5.1

Move $b$ .

$x^{4} \cdot (b \cdot b^{2})$

Step 14.5.2

Multiply $b$ by $b^{2}$ .

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Step 14.5.2.1

Raise $b$ to the power of $1$ .

$x^{4} \cdot (b^{1} b^{2})$

Step 14.5.2.2

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$x^{4} \cdot b^{1 + 2}$

Step 14.5.3

Add $1$ and $2$ .

$x^{4} \cdot b^{3}$

$x^{4} b^{3}$

Step 15

The LCM for $x^{4} b, 4 x b^{3}$ is the numeric part $4$ multiplied by the variable part.

$4 x^{4} b^{3}$